If you happened to be driving on New York Street in Aurora recently and saw a throng of people painting the iron fence around a park, you might have wondered what was going on.

It was service, all right. And it was definitely for the community.

"We live by the motto, 'You don't have to move to live in a better neighborhood,'" noted Mireya Luna, whose home is in the 300 block of Union Street and was one of about 20 volunteers — including Second Ward Alderman Juany Garza and state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) — who spent the morning of Sept. 16 sprucing up Clyde Penson Memorial Park on New York and Anderson streets.

Luna says even though she's lived in that same neighborhood off and on since 1999, she never thought of it as "being a real community, where you know who lives across the street or right next to you," until the city formed its Neighborhood Group Support initiative in July 2015.

In two short years, this outreach effort has more than doubled the number of such groups across the city — from 10 to 23, and creating so much momentum that National Night Out events in Aurora soared from just five that took place in 2014 to an incredible 45 parties held this year.

While there's certainly nothing like a picnic to bring folks together, never underestimate the power of paint, either. We all know if you slap a new coat on the walls of our kitchen, things immediately look a lot brighter. But paint can also make a big difference in how a neighborhood looks.

And how it comes together.

While the park fence did not need major repairs, time and weather made it look "old and rusty," noted Luna, which in turn gave the entire park "a neglected look."

Cheryl Maraffio

Volunteers from neighborhood groups in Aurora's Second and Third wards turn out recently to paint the fence at Clyde Penson Memorial Park as part of an ongoing initiative to spruce up their communities.

Volunteers from neighborhood groups in Aurora's Second and Third wards turn out recently to paint the fence at Clyde Penson Memorial Park as part of an ongoing initiative to spruce up their communities. (Cheryl Maraffio)

And so, four neighborhood groups in the Second and Third wards — Restore the Neighborhood, Luces de Sagrado Corazon, We Are United and United Neighbors — came to its rescue, with some residents prepping the fence, while others followed behind with black paint and brushes.

After the volunteers had finished up all 320 feet of iron fence, they turned their attention to the playground area, including the monkey bars and stairs to the slide.

As it turned out, this paint brigade brought together so many helpers that a task expected to take at least five hours was finished in half the time. And that's not the first time neighborhood groups on the East Side have joined forces: In the spring and early summer, members organized two separate alley clean-ups that brought out dozens of volunteers and was equally successful.

"We need a reason to come together … people yearn for it," said Luna. "But too often we don't know how to go about doing it. The goal of this initiative is to talk to others and connect them to a group … to get to know your neighbors and become part of a larger community."

Luna's United Neighbors group, while it's only a year old, has around 17 members and is planning to do more outreach — canvassing the neighborhood, putting out flyers or knocking on doors — to let people know about the meetings that take place the second Monday of every month.

Arcela Arredondo, whose Second Ward Restore the Neighborhood group is in its third year and now has about 30 members, has also seen dramatic changes in her 20-plus years living in the area.

In the early 2000s, she said, a neighborhood group formed when crime became an issue. But after meeting for a year or two, "we grew complacent as things got better." And it wasn't until a couple years ago when "problems started brewing again … that residents got serious" and organized what she described as this "more formal" group.

"Since then, it's been pretty steady because we see that it is working," said Arredondo, crediting much of the success to the city for "keeping us on task."

Which must include more than painting fences: It's also about building relationships.

As community coordinator for the city's initiative, Cheryl Maraffio has had a front row seat in watching these partnerships with residents grow, particularly with Community Oriented Police officers who, along with the aldermen, attend the monthly meetings, providing updates on any criminal activity and offering prevention and safety tips to those attending.

"We want them to take ownership," said Maraffio, who has been passionately involved in community advocacy since her son Louis Sacckette was murdered in Aurora in 2000. "But we also want them to know we are here to help any way we can."

For this recent fence project, that assistance included the city providing the paint, the equipment and the lunch, for all volunteers.

"It was so great to see young people, couples, families show up," noted Luna, the mom of a 10-year-old. "It's all about getting rid of criminal activity and making our community a better place to raise kids."

For Arredondo, it truly is about quality of life, and that includes the added pleasure she now gets in taking her young grandchildren to Clyde Penson Memorial Park on the weekends.

Or, in just driving by on her way to work during the week and feeling so much pride.

"I look at it now," said Arredondo, "and think, oh my goodness … it is just so nice."